Remember When: A bathtub of beans for Comic Relief

1974: Elderly people from Waltham St Lawrence were treated to an annual dinner provided by the Waltham St Lawrence Silver Band.

The band raised money each year for the party – this was the 14th – by playing in the village at Christmas.

1979: “I love people and the situation was so desperate in Cookham village that I decided as we had a spare room with a front door I’d try meeting that need.”

That was the reasoning for JoAnne Reddy’s quest to open a new sub Post Office in Cookham, after six months without one.

JoAnne became the village’s new sub-postmistress with the help of her husband, Tony, who paid for the conversion of their cottage into a Post Office.

1984: A Halfords customer went in to buy a five-litre can of oil and ended up with a Sinclair Spectrum home computer.

Brian Cox entered a Castrol competition, and went along to the High Street branch to receive the prize from manager James Hughes.

1989: A Paley Street pub landlord had a bath in baked beans to raise money for Comic Relief.

With a plastic duck for company, Dave Roberts, landlord at The Bridge House, sat waist-high in beans for 24 hours.

1994: British Rail called a halt to the annihilation of trees on Maidenhead’s railway embankments following a furious public outcry and pressure from the Royal Borough.

Residents were up in arms over the destruction of thousands of trees along the railway line – done to stop dangerous leaves ending up on the line.

Jane Harris, who lived near the railway embankment, said: “We are trying to bring our two children up to love their environment and here we are seeing chainsaws hacking down trees. It’s disgraceful.”

1994: Certificates were presented to a dozen Cookham teenagers who had completed a new babysitting course with flying colours.

The course was introduced at the medical centre in Lower Road.

1999: The owner of Atlantic Motorcycles in Twyford, Jim Gleave, showed off his pride and joy – a Gilera 1964 model racing bike signed by eight-times world champion Phil Reed.

Jim and a small band of aficionados gathered at Booker Air Field after The Classic Motorcycle magazine convinced Jim to let them take the bike for a test ride.